


Representation Matters

by AnonWerewolf



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:02:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26628727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonWerewolf/pseuds/AnonWerewolf
Summary: A short scene after Remus is finished at Hogwarts after teaching DADA for a year.
Kudos: 4





	Representation Matters

**Author's Note:**

> I was super-proud at being able to use the word "nitwittery". I wish I could use it more in daily conversation.
> 
> I have an entire head canon where Remus' Dad is originally from Eastern Europe who was evacuated to Wales shortly before the outbreak of WW2 as a child. Similar a wizarding equivalent to the kinder transport. When I imagine his voice I think of an underlying Eastern European accent and voice, with some elements of a welsh accent on top. I've tried to give his voice some of those elements but I don't know that it comes through without the backstory.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Albus looked at his DADA teacher.

"Where will you go?"

"My father's house for now"

"He's still out near Tintern?"

Remus gave a short nod. He wanted to get there quickly before the news reached him.

Albus watched him leave his office. The way the school chewed up and spat out DADA teachers was disheartening. They nearly always left in worse shape than they started. This didn't look to be the case for Remus. Apart from this morning, he had certainly been looking healthier and happier as the year progressed. He had also left the DADA teaching area in far better shape than it had been for many years. An updated and fleshed out curriculum as well as the annotated texts for future teachers were incredibly useful. But on reflection, Dumbledore was most grateful that not a single teacher - excepting Severus Snape - had come to him for an entire year with a complaint about the general uselessness, incompetence or overall nitwittery of the DADA teacher. That alone had been a breath of fresh air. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
In less than an hour Remus was at his father's door. There had been no time to send a forewarning of his arrival. His father let him, a resigned look on his face. 

"You've finished?"

Remus nodded.

"You said it would only last one year."

"Same as when I was at school, Da"

"It went well?"

"Yes. Excepting the end."

"Take a seat in the kitchen and I'll get a pot on."

And so, Remus updated him on the end of his year of teaching at Hogwarts, both the good and the bad. Updates on families he might remember from his days at the ministry. Quite a bit about Harry. And some about Sirius.

His father remained silent for a long time after that.

"He was innocent? How long was he in Azkaban for?"

"12 years"

"And nobody realised?"

"Nobody."

"Not even Albus Dumbledore? I don't understand how that could happen."

"You remember what it was like. The ministry trying to shortcut procedures and wrap things up. They thought it looked clear cut. But there is still no evidence to prove Sirius' innocence without the true culprit and he's disappeared again. Dumbledore is going to try. He might need me to help, but it is not going to be easy. He has methods of concealment that make it difficult. There is not much hope until he shows himself more publicly again."

"So, Sirius is?"

"Gone. Somewhere. I don't know where."

"Aye, he was a good friend to you. You'll see him again."

There was a noise at the window. Lyall got up to get the post from the owl. He handed the letter to Remus.

"That found me quickly." he said, opening it.

Remus frowned as he read his letter quickly before screwing it up.

Lyall watched him thoughtfully. "Nothing good?"

"Nothing good." said Remus. A shadow passed the window as another owl landed.

"You're tired. Go and get some sleep. I'll take care of this. "

"No Dad. It's not going to be pleasant. I can deal with it."

"What are fathers for? Get some sleep. I'll check the letters and get rid of those that aren't good."

The adrenaline of the last 24 hours was leaving him and the post-moon exhaustion settling in. The normal effects of the full moon had been somewhat alleviated this time though. Likely because of the partial wolfsbane but Remus also suspected that the werewolf had been happy roaming freely in the forest last night, remembering old haunts and friends.

He headed to the spare room to sleep it off.

It was early evening when he woke and went downstairs. His father at the kitchen table again, head in his hands, silently weeping. A pile of crushed letters on the floor besides him.

"Dad?" said Remus softly. "Don't do this to yourself."

His father looked up, wiping his eyes quickly with one hand. "Look at them all. So hateful and ignorant. Like me once, hey?"

He then handed Remus the letter he had been reading that had upset him so.

"Read this one."

Remus took the letter.

_  
Dear Professor Lupin,_

_I'm sorry to hear you have left already and the way that you were forced to leave. You were the best DADA professor ever. Your classes were fun and I actually learnt something this year. I did suspect you after a while. Let me tell you why._

_Everyone at Hogwarts thinks I'm an only child, but I have a younger sister. She was bitten a few years ago. The healers did what they could, but she was left with a lot of scars on her face from the bite and my parents don't like her being seen in public. It has been very hard on my family. She would love to come to school, but it's impossible. She will be happy to know that a werewolf was a teacher at Hogwarts. I will tell her about you and maybe she will write to you someday. Most of the students are very sorry to see you go._

_Signed,  
xx  
_  
There was a long silence after he finished. He turned the letter over looking for clues to the identity of the writer. "Was there no name?"

His Dad shook his head. "No name or address and I checked for tracking or charms that might tell us something."

"You do wonder, you know? Who else is dealing with this." said Remus.

Lyall clapped a hand on his son's shoulder. "Time to eat. I went to the shops and bought steaks. I will cook a special dinner." He swept the rest of the mail into the kitchen fire and both men watched it burn.

**Author's Note:**

> It will be interesting to see if anyone has any thoughts about which minor character it might be who sent the letter. One came to mind while I wrote this and the more I think about it the more I like it.


End file.
